London Borough of Southwark (25 019 362)
Category : Benefits and tax > Council tax
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 04 May 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Council tax payments because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.
The complaint
- Company X complains that the Council has acted unreasonably in refusing to reduce the monthly Council tax payments required of them.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide:
- there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
- any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
- any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Company X was told by the Council that a Council tax debt had to be repaid by a monthly payment of £500. Company X says that this is unreasonably high and will cause hardship.
- The Council says that the debt is £5397 and the offered payment (of £100 per month) would not clear the debt in the tax year. It says that any outstanding debt would cause more hardship by continuing into the following tax year.
- Whilst I appreciate that the payments required would not be easy for Company X, I am satisfied that the Council has properly considered the arguments made by the Company. Its decision provides insufficient evidence of administrative fault by the Council and so the Ombudsman cannot question its merits.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Company X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman